Business News
A unified network for young professionals
By Jessica Brookes
and professional development package” after a merger between two networking bodies. Plans are in place to offer even more benefits
Y
to Future Faces Chamber members, after the merger with Business Professional Services (BPS) Birmingham. BPS was originally founded as City 2000, formed
in 1990, as an independent membership body for the business and professional services sector. It established Young City 2000, a sister
organisation supporting future leaders, in 1993. City 2000 then transformed into Birmingham
Forward, and Young City 2000 into Birmingham Future at the turn of the millennium. BPS became the successor to Birmingham Forward and Future in 2013. Birmingham Aspire, supporting graduates, apprentices and students, joined BPS in the same year Commenting on the merger, Ian Barnes, chair
of BPS Birmingham Ltd, said: “This unified approach means we will be able to provide more support for members while still ensuring that the region’s business professional services sector has its own national and international voice.” After the merger, Futures Faces membership
has rocketed by nearly a quarter (24 per cent). New members who have joined the Chamber
include those from a number of professional services and many are based on Colmore Row and the surrounding area in central Birmingham. Enhanced benefits in the pipeline for Future
Faces members include structured mentoring and an “up mentoring” scheme, which promises to extend across the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce (GBCC) network. Back by popular demand, Aston Business
School’s Mini MBA event series will also return later in the year, with a focus on upskilling members.
10 CHAMBERLINK February 2021 “This acquisition of course, comes at a time
when our future leaders and the talent of our businesses are going to need to unite and be stronger than ever before, these professionals after all will be responsible for guiding the city into economic recovery.” Leading the bigger and more beneficial Future
Faces service offering includes newly installed president Jaccy Datta and vice-president Sabah Hussain. Jaccy said the merger and its new offering will
“vastly benefit” young professionals. She commented: “The new merger between Future Faces and BPS is an incredibly exciting
oung professionals across Greater Birmingham are being promised an “even broader and larger multi-sector network
Anna Assinder, senior marketing manager at
the GBCC and manager of Future Faces, explained that the enhanced benefits will aid young professionals, at a crucial economic time. She said: “By acquiring Birmingham
Professional Services we are growing Future Faces even more as well as the benefits to young professionals across our region through a more diverse and larger network and by also creating more opportunities for those members. Members will receive the same networking, development and recognition benefits alongside an even broader and larger multi-sector network and professional development package, as well as an even bigger awards celebration event to recognise their talents and achievements later this year.
More Future Faces news - Pages 60-61
Top team: (left to right) Sabah Hussain, Anna Assinder and Jaccy Datta
opportunity and will result in a much stronger network, not to mention a wider range of membership benefits and more diverse opportunities. A great example of this is in relation to mentoring - Future Faces has previously been looking into ways to set up a more formal mentoring scheme for its members, and this is something already offered by BPS. Future Faces, however, has members from a wider range of backgrounds than solely professional services, including charity, arts and culture. “By bringing together the networks, skillsets
and opportunities across both networks via this merger will vastly benefit everyone involved.” Vice-president Sabah echoed the sentiment:
“It is exciting for young professionals across Greater Birmingham to see two significant networks join forces to provide a greater and more diverse offering.” Alongside the enhanced benefits, the coveted
Future Faces annual awards and Birmingham Young Professional Awards will be hosted jointly this year, at the ICC in August. At its peak the Birmingham Young Professionals Awards were the largest young professional services awards in the region, attracting close to 1,000 attendees. The combined awards are expected to attract
more than 1,000 guests. For Jaccy, the awards will be a true celebration of all young professionals across the region. She said: “BPS and Future Faces both have
large awards celebrations every year to profile the incredible achievements of young professionals from across the region. Both of these awards celebrations have a significant reach via both in-person attendance (pre- pandemic!) and visibility via social media. “This year's combined awards will be a true
celebration of all young professionals across the region, and create even more visibility for those doing incredible work across Greater Birmingham; this will assist the West Midlands to showcase what a fantastic region we truly are, and help to both attract and retain talent for years to come.”
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